The Eve of Turning
by LadySlytherin007
Summary: Wedding, honeymoon, bite, transformation, and afterwards. BS/EC Was originally a 1-shot, but now it's becoming a developed story. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: As much as I may wish that Edward Cullen was all mine, he's not, and neither are the rest of the characters mentioned here. They belong to the wonderfully talented Stephenie Meyer. Only the fic is mine.

The time has come. After what felt like eternity, (but had actually only been two years,) it is going to happen. I am going to officially join my new family, the Cullens, forever. Tonight.

XXXXXXXXXX

The wedding was a week ago. Edward had insisted that we be married first for two things to occur: to take our physical relations to the ultimate level…and to bite me, filling my veins with that bitter-sweet venom that I had craved from the moment I fell in love with him.

The wedding had been like a dream. It was in the Cullens' backyard. Alice was of course in charge of the decorations, and she did an amazing job. There were delicate chairs arranged in rows and aisles, each draped with a white seat cover and tied loosely with a deep red velvet bow. The shrubbery was all laced with tiny white light bulbs, illuminating the parameters of the ceremony. Candles lined the aisle and were arranged throughout the yard as well. And, as a last minute idea, Alice bought bags and bags of rhinestones of all sizes and scattered them all over the grass. They reflected the candlelight spectacularly, and created the same glistening affect as vampire skin in the sunlight.

Rosalie was the bridesmaid and Alice was the maid of honor, naturally. They were sinfully gorgeous in their dresses of deep red. Emmett was the best man and Jasper was a groomsman. Mom, Carlisle, and Esme had front row seats, with an empty one for Charlie after he escorted me down the aisle.

I was nervous. Excited, but nervous. Alice and Rosalie had worked wonders on my hair and makeup; my long, brown tresses had been curled and secured in a low ponytail at the nape of my neck, tiny tendrils had been left loose, and baby's-breath had been woven throughout. And, even I have to admit that my dress was very flattering. It was made of a pearly-white silk that stood out in the candlelit night. It had a corset-style bodice and long, angular sleeves. I wore white stiletto heels… I had to constantly remind myself the entire night to walk carefully, or risk tripping and ruining the wedding. Edward would just smirk, I know, but I would never live it down. Oh, and my bouquet was of red roses and baby's-breath; the deep red theme seemed fitting for a vampire wedding in my eyes.

The ceremony ran smoothly, and I even felt tears of happiness prickling my eyes when Edward slid the icy ring on my finger, making me Mrs. Edward Cullen...forever. After the post wedding festivities, Edward and I said goodbye to our families and left for the honeymoon.

We chose a Parisian honeymoon for multiple reasons. I had mentioned fleetingly one day that I had always wanted to go there, and he, with his vampire-sharp attention to details, had stored that little bit of information in his mind. Also, Paris is obviously known as a romantic destination for young lovers…and the night life made it easy to avoid the sunlight, and therefore not give away Edward's secret.

Edward was true to his word; on our first night in Paris, I lost my virginity to the man I love. It was…breathtaking, to say the least. I was standing at the vanity running my fingers through my hair, trying to still my throbbing heart. I saw his reflection approaching in the mirror and closed my eyes. I was anticipating it, but when I felt his cool arms slip around my waist and pull my body against his, my pulse took off again. I sighed as he began kissing my neck slowly. He then began to nibble on my neck, which took me off guard; Edward had never allowed himself to do that! I opened my eyes and gazed into the mirror. He too looked into the mirror as he continued his attentions to my neck. And as I caught his eyes there, I could see a hunger…like an animal. But I wasn't afraid, even as his tongue and teeth glided over my flesh. In fact, I had never been more aroused in my entire life…because I knew he was fighting the urge to have his way with me, be it sexually or predatorily, and it was thrilling.

It was at this point that I turned to face him. I'm sure that my face was flushed, and he let out a low growl in response. He kissed me fiercely, and then swooped me up and had me lying on the bed in a matter of seconds.

"Bella Cullen," he murmured as he slid off my negligee, "you are the most tempting creature on the face of this planet. I love you now, and I will love you for all eternity."

Well, that did me in. I lost all self-control at that point. I started fumbling with the buttons of his shirt, and ended up getting frustrated with them and ripping the shirt open instead. His body was like a marble carving of a god, perfectly chiseled and smooth. I ran my hands over his cool chest and his body reacted by jumping a little. Somehow, he managed to lose his pants and boxers in one motion, never breaking our lip to lip contact. So there we were, completely exposed and completely in love. The next twenty minutes were full of stimulating experiments that had us both shaking with anticipation. At one point, as his mouth began its seconds trek over my entire body, he began to focus on my neck again. This time, instead of just kissing, licking, and nibbling, he began to suck and bite harder. Just a hickey, but a hickey from a vampire? Dangerous territory. It was still thoroughly exciting, but at one point, I lifted his head up and brought his eyes even with mine. His eyes did the most amazing thing: they went from black, to red, to topaz, to green…. Then back to topaz. Green… Carlisle said that Edward's eyes as a human had been green. So, in that instant of color changing, I saw all of the divisions of Edward Cullen, from the most animalistic to the most human. And it made my love for him swell in my chest to the point that I thought I would explode.

"Bella… Bella… are you ready?" He whispered in my ear. I nodded yes as my heart raced. And I knew that if Edward still had a heart beat, his heart would be racing too. As he positioned himself above me, his eyes shone topaz. And as he entered me for the first time, they flashed green, and then turned back to topaz. The line between pleasure and pain was so fine… I couldn't help but scream.

Afterwards, I felt closer to him than ever before. For my sake, Edward arranged the blankets over us. He pulled my body to his, draped his arm over me, and nestled his face in my hair. I had never been happier in my entire life. As we lay there, he began humming my song softly. With a sigh, I snuggle against his icy body and fell asleep to his humming.

XXXXXXXXXX

That was a week ago. We spent the rest of the honeymoon in much the same way: exploring the city by night, and spending our days inside. A nocturnal lifestyle; a vampiristic lifestyle.

Now we are back in Forks at the Cull… I mean, our house. Everyone agreed that this would be the best place to turn me, because I would be surrounded by all of them to help me through the change. Today I visited Charlie and Mom, (who stayed in town long enough to see that I arrived safely.) I went with her to the airport. Not that I have any doubt whatsoever about doing this, but… Saying hello, and saying goodbye to my parents was difficult for me, because I knew it would be the last time I would see them for a very long time. After all, it will take me quite a while to get my new vampire instincts in check. It will be difficult to not see them, possibly for years, but it is all for the best. But that's all part of our grand plan; my parents think we are moving to Alaska for college. That at least will give us a few years to get my instincts under control. From there, we'll just have to improvise.

The sun is setting now. I am in Edward's room, our room. He still has that beautifully ornate bed that he surprised me with last year. It is where I am sitting, and he is pacing the floor in front of me.

"Edward?" I ask hesitantly. "It's going to be ok, I promise." I pause. "I love you, and I trust you."

He stops his pacing and looks at me for what seems like hours, but was only a minute or two. He nods, takes a deep, albeit unnecessary breath, walks my way, and rubs his hand together…

The door is shut, but I know the rest of the family is standing just outside of it. Not that they don't believe in Edward, just that it never hurts to be cautious. He knows it too; he can hear all of their thoughts. He casts a sideways glance at the door, but seems to feel better knowing they are there.

Hit sits down on the bed beside me. He takes my chin in his hand and turns my face towards his. He kisses me softly, but emotionally. It's not the same as the last time he kissed me before he left me; it's not a goodbye kiss. Rather, this seems to be a kiss of promise, a promise of what's to come in our future. When we separate, he tucks my hair behind my ear out of his way. He begins by kissing my neck. When his lips come to rest over my throbbing artery, they hesitate. I take his wedding-band clad hand in my own, entwining our fingers and squeezing them firmly. This seems to give him the last bit of courage he needs. I feel him begin to suckle my neck, trying to make this as pleasant as is possible. He kisses a trail up to my ear and whispers, "I love you."

"I love you too."

Now he's back to the spot on my neck… I feel his teeth, like so many times before…. But now he's biting, biting… I feel the 'pop' as he pierces my skin, and I yell. My instinct is to yank away, but he is now the one squeezing MY hand, so I squeeze back with all my power. His teeth continue to sink into my neck, and at this moment I love him and hate him for it, because it hurts, God it hurts so bad! A million, no, a billion times worse than that one scratch on my hand a couple of years ago. But in the back of my mind I remember Carlisle telling me that the more venom there is, the less agonizing the transformation will be. The pain is…well it would be unbearable. It's soo cold and hot at the same time! I'm screaming, I know I'm screaming, and crying, and my body is flailing around. Edward is pulling away from my neck now, and even in my pain, I feel bad for him, because his eyes are flashing between red and gold very quickly, his lips are covered in my blood, and he is paler than I have ever seen. He hates to see me like this, hates to know that he caused it. And at the same time, he is having to fight to maintain control of his inner beast, fighting to not drain me of my life right here and now. I am his singer; my blood is the most delectable he has ever encountered. And now he has tasted it. But still he struggles, still he fights, because he loves me. And as his eyes flash dangerously between red and gold, and as I am approaching being out of my mind from the pain, I lift our entwined hands to my lips and kiss his. His eyes stopped flashing, and they settled into their light, golden color. He wipes my blood from his lips and kisses me.

"Carlisle, Esme, and anyone who can bear it, come in and help me stop this bleeding now!"

Immediately the door swings open and Carlisle, Esme, Alice, and Emmett entered the room. Rosalie enters slowly, and then Jasper does too. I'm surprised that Jasper can do it, but am pleased in a warped way.

I'm still screaming and crying and twitching.

Carlisle helps Edward to his feet. I have never seen him look prouder than he does now as he hugs his son. And I have never seen Edward look prouder either as he did in that fleeting second. But his attention quickly turns back to me.

I cannot control my body any more. I want to sit up, suck up the pain, and talk to them, but it's impossible. My mind is still my own, but who knows how much longer that will last either? I'm so cold, and so sleepy…

As Carlisle sees to stopping the bleeding, Alice smoothes my hair and wipes the tears from my cheeks. Esme stands by Carlisle and coos lovingly, "Darling, you will be fine. I am so proud to be able to call you my daughter now!... Love…trust us, we will make this as easy as possible for you. There's a good girl…"

Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie stand a few paces behind the rest. They are there for moral support, but aren't quite capable of getting too close. I understand.

But Edward… my love, my husband, is pacing the floor and wringing his hands. His eyes have never left mine. This is one of the only times that I wish that he could read my mind, that I wasn't the exception to the rule. If he could, he would know that I am ok, and that I love him. He should know that already. But from the look on his face…

"Isn't there anything we can give her to dull the pain?" He asks Carlisle desperately. "Like a sedative or something?"

I have been wondering the same thing.

Carlisle shakes his head slowly. "I'm afraid not. If we add anything else to her bloodstream, she will die. The venom has to work of its own accord; we cannot interfere."

"So what do we do, just leave her here for the next few days?!?" Edward asks incredulously. Apparently, he hadn't thought this far ahead.

Esme turns her head in his direction and replies calmly, "Yes. You can come in whenever you'd like, but I would advice against it. She won't be able to remember whether you stay with her or not, and I think that seeing her in that condition will only serve to upset you more, dear."

Everything is cold now, how do they not feel it? It must have dropped 20 degrees in here in the past 5 minutes. I am shaking more violently than I knew was possible.

And still crying.

And moaning.

But I'm so very tired now…. I think I'll just lie down and close my eyes…

But first, I have to see Edward. I force my eyes back open. Everything seems to be moving in slow motion, but I find him. He comes to me, and hugs me, and I try to hug him back, but I cannot lift my arms. He says that he loves me, and I try to respond, but I cannot speak. But he looks into my eyes and I know he sees it there. So it is with that that he leaves the room. And the others quickly follow. Carlisle is the last to go.

"Bella… I will check on you ever single hour until your transformation is complete. Just know, that we all love you. And, I am fairly sure that Edward injected enough venom into your bloodstream that you will be unconscious for most of the transformation……so when you wake up, be sure to thank him for that." And now, of all things, he smiles! "Welcome to the family, Bells." He turns and leaves the room.

I let my eyes close. My entire body is now on icy fire, or fiery ice. I cannot decide which one. Perhaps molten ice? Yes… molten ice. I think I am still crying, but cannot be sure. As I drift out of consciousness, the last thing I hear in my mind is Edward humming my song…

XXXXXXXXXX

A/N: Alright, so this turned into a very long one-shot! This is my first Twilight fanfic, so please let me know what you think! And, if I get enough feedback, I may do a sequel or a second chapter, you know, post transformation.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I wish they were mine, but they aren't. However, if Edward is out there and reads this, just know that I'm waiting for you baby. ;)

Edward's POV

The moment I bit her, I knew that the only thing that would keep her alive in the next two seconds was my love. Had it not been for that, I would have drained her body of every single drop of its blood without hesitance. It was the most divine substance to ever touch my tongue; better than I could have ever imagined! The moment that my teeth sank through her flesh and her blood coursed into my mouth, I had to squeeze her hand tightly for both her sake and my own. For her, it was a reminder to stay still and trust me; for me, it was a reminder of who and what I had my teeth sunken into.

Nevertheless, I found myself drinking more of her blood than was necessary. When I finally made myself pull away from her neck, she was pale from both a loss of blood and the effects the poison was beginning to have on her system. I tried to fight it, but I felt my animal instincts kicking in: my prey was writhing from my poison and I wanted so badly to finish it off. IT. The fact that I had just referred to my lover as an "it" made me pause and realize how out of control I was getting. Just about the time that I realized this, she somehow managed to lift my hand to her lips and kiss it. That was the deciding factor in me overcoming the beast and sparing her life: that absolute love. I immediately wiped her exquisite blood from my lips in order to avoid being tempted once again. I called my family into the room, and we began to try to make Bella as comfortable as possible.

All of that occurred about an hour ago. I am now sitting downstairs at my piano, absentmindedly pressing keys. We had turned her in my room…I mean, our room. Consequently, I am going to have to avoid the room for at least a day, because it will take about that long for her body's blood supply to become completely taken over by the poison. It took every morsel of my self control to deny myself of her blood earlier; I'm not so sure I could put myself through being around it again. As of now, I would still be tempted by it, even though it's tainted with my own venom.

_My venom._

I hate to think of my lover, no, my wife, writhing in the pain that I know she is enduring. But at the same time, I feel an overwhelming sense of elation knowing that it is my venom turning her, my venom that is making her immortal, my venom that will enable her to stay with me forever. The marriage, the sex, the venom, they're all ways in which Bella is mine and mine alone, and the perverse thought thrills me.

As these thoughts run through my mind, I know I am still playing the piano. But by this point, my random note plucking has developed into a sweet, melodic song that reflects my thoughts. I turn my attention to trying to express my feelings though the notes; I find myself playing a mixture of major and minor chords, plenty of inversions, and plenty of sharps and flats. In essence, a song that is light and dark, happy and sad, proud and regretful. A perfect reflection of my thoughts and feelings.

I look up when I begin to hear Esme's thoughts. "That really is wonderful, Edward." She says softly. I turn to see her standing in the doorway to our never-used kitchen.

I smile, stand up, and stretch. "Thanks, it was about Bella…"

"I could tell. If you can remember it, you should play it for her when she gets better." She replied absently. I knew that her thoughts were really focused on Bella, whose cries were becoming more pronounced now. As she turned to leave the room, I couldn't help but hear the relief in her thoughts: "Thank you God for not letting him kill her."

God? My own mind recoiled from the thought. What God? My family and I had debated this issue over the years. The main person who opposed me Atheistic views had always been Carlisle, but Esme too had always had strong opinions concerning this matter. She just never voiced them aloud because she hates arguing with the ones she loves.

A more pronounced cry filled the house as the door to our bedroom opened and Carlisle stepped outside.

My own thoughts immediately returned to Bella. If I could die, the next 24 hours would be the thing to do me in.

XXXXXXXXXX

I am really not sure how I did it, but I managed to stay somewhat sane over the past 24 hours. It may be attributed to the fact that I left the house to hunt and didn't return until midnight the next day. It worried me, being away from Bella for so long. So every couple of hours I would mentally "check in" with Alice, who would give me updates on Bella's condition.

Now I am walking back up our driveway. It is just a little past midnight, and only select lights are on in the house. The lights to mine and Bella's bedroom are off.

As I enter the door, I know Alice hears me and alerts the rest of the family. Within seconds, I am swarmed by family members, each with varying levels of excitement on their faces.

I try to read their minds, but they are all doing a very good job of hiding their thoughts from me. This frustrates me to no end; even Emmett is only broadcasting "no way brother," as he smirks over Rosalie's head.

I'm about to say something when Carlisle takes the initiative instead. "Edward, there is something I need to tell you."

If I had blood in my body, I know it would have all just drained from my face. Those words were so incredibly foreboding that I felt panicked and set on my guard immediately.

_Bella. _

Could something have gone wrong with her transformation?

In this moment, my family was able to read MY thoughts because they flashed across my face so plainly. Alice quickly stepped into the conversation.

"Relax, Edward. She's fine." Her eyes were twinkling; why were they twinkling?

I turn my face back to Carlisle. "Explain please, before I run up there and see what's going on for myself."

"After you left yesterday afternoon," he begins, "I continued my promised, hourly checkups on Bella. Everything seemed to be progressing normally up until about 2:00am today." He pauses, just to mess with my mind, I'm sure. "It was the most remarkable thing I've ever seen, Edward. Normally, it takes a person's body anywhere from 24-30 hours to completely deplete itself of its blood supply. But by 2:00, her's was finished. She'd only been bitten a little over 8 hours beforehand, and she was already through the first phase."

I am stunned. Not as much at the fact that Bella was reacting abnormally to the poison, (because, this IS my Bella we're talking about.) But more at the thought of what he was implying. Everyone was barely containing their excitement, so I had a strong feeling my suspicions were right.

Carlisle continues speaking. "I haven't the faintest idea why her body has reacted the way it has, but Edward, she finished the second phase of the transformation at about noon."

The second phase of a transformation is what we consider the hunger phase. This is where the new vampire's body turns full swing towards its craving for blood. They must be provided with blood as quickly as possible in order to avoid violence. Their body is completely a vampire at this point; all that's left is….

"She finished the mental phase about 3 hours ago Edward." Esme said softly.

The third and final phase is what we call the mental phase. The vampire has been acting purely on animalistic instincts up until this point. But when they have drank blood and calmed down physically, their minds begin to re-emerge from the depths they've been hidden in for the past two phases. When a vampire has finished the third phase, they have finished the complete transformation.

I don't wait to hear anything else. I am bounding up the stairs, taking 4 or 5 at a time. I hear Alice and Rosalie giggle, and I hear Jasper say something to the affect of "Boy can fly."

But I'm not paying them any attention anymore. I'm in front of my bedroom door in a matter of seconds. If my physical heart was still functioning, I know it would be beating strongly enough to hear. I inhale deeply, though it's unnecessary.

My Bella was right on the other side of the door. I couldn't hear her thoughts, but I could FEEL her presence. And she was completely turned. Completely dead. Completely mine.

I put my hand on the iron doorknob, turn it slowly, and push the door in.

"Bella," I sigh as she falls into my arms.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ok, so maybe one more chapter coming? Yes?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: So, only the plot is mine.

Bella's POV

I open my eyes groggily to a dark room and a moonless night. I snuggle down further in the covers, trying to fall back into the wonderful dream I had been having. In it, Edward and I had gotten married, and he finally bit me!

Still disoriented from what I assumed was a deep sleep, I sit up slowly and run my hands through my hair.

"Edward?" I say hesitantly. When he doesn't answer, I'm a bit confused. He stays with me every night, why was he not laying in my bed with me now?

I inhale, then exhale deeply; I can see my breath.

"Now that's weird," I say aloud. It's apparently cold enough to see my breath, yet here I am wearing only a tank top and shorts, and I don't feel cold at all. I just assume that it's because I've been snuggled under the blankets; these silky sheets with this big fur comforter on top…

But wait.

I don't have silk sheets. Or a fur comforter.

It is at this moment that I realize that I'm not in my room. I lean over to where I assume a bedside table should be and fumble with a lamp switch. The room is immediately illuminated with a soft yellow glow, and I quickly figure out where I am.

I'm laying in Edward's bed, in Edward's room, at the Cullens' house, without Edward.

"Now, why am I here?" I think to myself. Still groggy, I feel as if I'm forgetting something important, but I cannot figure out what it is.

I crawl out from under the covers slide to the floor. As my feet hit the soft carpet, I noticed my legs: they're ridiculously pale! I quickly look at my arms and notice that they are too. But besides this creamy white skin-tone, I notice something else. My skin looks like perfect porcelain; it's never looked this smooth in my entire life! The only people I'd ever seen with this exquisite complexion were…

Vampires.

"Oh my God, my transformation!" I feel my eyes grow huge with a mixture of disbelief and excitement. It wasn't a dream; everything had really happened!

I run to the door to Edward's bathroom, flip on the lights, slam the door shut, (which consequently broke off,) and turn to stare at myself in the wall-sized mirror.

There's no way to justify how I feel at this moment, other than to say I feel… beautiful.

I slowly walk closer to the mirror, never taking my eyes away from my own reflection. The creamy porcelain skin is just as smooth and even over my entire body. My eyes are rounder and seem to hold more expression than they ever had. I also notice upon closer inspection that they are ruby-red, and that the skin under my eyes is faintly purple-tinted. But this doesn't detract from things; it only seems to emphasize them.

My hair seems shinier and more alive. My teeth seem whiter. My cheekbones are more pronounced. And my body is deliciously curvy; it's like I'd lost four inches from my waist and added them to my hips and bust line! Even my fingernails, which were normally uneven from biting, are perfectly rounded and smooth.

I still look like me, but at the same time, I don't.

It's like Bella 2.0.

"Yes, new and improved vampire-Bella." I whisper to myself as I smile into the mirror. Even my smile seems more dazzling!

I hear the bedroom door open, and then within seconds I hear frantic footsteps running towards the bed. Then in the direction of the broken bathroom door.

I approach the doorway. The moment that I do, Carlisle's eyes meet mine. A look of genuine confusion flickers across his face, but it is quickly replaced with happiness.

"Bella, Bella, Bella. You are something else." He laughs as he shakes his head and walks towards me.

"I wasn't all that horrible, was I?" I say, half joking.

He hesitates before answering. "How about you come sit down on this chair and let me make sure everything's in good working order with you, while I explain something."

He tells me something I completely hadn't expected to hear. My transformation apparently took only a fraction of the time it usually should. In fact, I had just been bitten a little over 24 hours ago!

"It's quite remarkable," he says as he shines a light into my eye. "In all of my experience, I have never met a person whose transformation took less than 3 days."

"But, what does that mean then?"

"I'm not sure yet, but we will try to figure out just why it was so easy for you. If we can, this could help make transformations easier on people in the future."

I'm quiet for a minute as I soak that information in. Suddenly, I realize something. "Where's Edward?"

"He's actually out hunting, but he should be back in the next couple of hours. Why don't you come downstairs with everyone else until then? And you need to eat; I'll be monitoring your blood intake heavily for quite a while, just to make sure we keep things under control."

It's curious. Just a couple of days ago, the thought of blood would have me feeling faint and nauseous. But now, I feel such a strong craving for it that it is all I can do from running downstairs right this second. But I fight it off, rationalizing that I can spend a minute getting freshened up first.

I tell Carlisle this, and he seems genuinely impressed. "Again, you're something else. I've never met a vampire that was able to fight off their thirst so soon! I saw it in your eyes, you're thirsty. In most cases, a brand new vampire would run through a brick wall the second their thirst strikes, yet you're sitting here voluntarily resisting. I'm truly astounded."

I know I would blush, were I still human. As it is, I lower my eye lashes and smile at this unconventional compliment from Carlisle.

He leaves the room and says he'll go update everyone downstairs. I hurry to the closet, knowing that Alice would have put my clothes up by now. I'm of course right. I slip off my tank top and shorts and opt for a pair of straight legged jeans, a thin navy blue sweater, and a new pair of white boots with navy blue stitches. (All obviously courtesy of Alice or Rosalie.)

I look in the mirror, expecting to need to wash my face or comb my hair out of habit. But I see that everything looks as perfect as it had when I woke up, and that the hours of the transformation had left no dirtiness or disheveledness behind.

I rush out the door and find myself flying down the stairs. I had put off my craving for a few seconds, yes, but it was overcoming me so strongly now that I felt I might wither away and die if I didn't get some blood now.

Esme meets me at the foot of the stairs with a large, bronze looking goblet in hand. I take it without question and drain it of its contents.

This is amazing! Heaven on earth. Never felt more satisfied in my entire life.

When I finish it, she is gone for only a matter of seconds before she is back in front of me, handing a refilled goblet to me.

I drain that one too.

Now that I feel thoroughly quenched of my thirst, I look up for the first time. Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Alice, and Carlisle are standing not three feet behind Esme.

I hadn't noticed them before, but I suppose it was because I was so focused on the blood.

"Well, hi everybody," I say shyly. I desperately need their acceptance, desperately need to know that they still love me even though I'm different than before.

I soon learn that they do; I'm being embraced from every direction at once!

Emmett and Jasper keep looking at me and shaking their heads with grins on their faces. I suppose that's a compliment?

"Hey boys," Alice says playfully, "you better remember that she's your sister! Plus, Edward would kill you if he could hear your thoughts right now." She winked at me.

I laughed.

Rosalie cocked an eyebrow, but smiled faintly too.

Alice throws her arm around me and leads me to the living room. Everyone else follows.

Alice plops down on a couch and motions for me to join her. But when I go to 'plop' down, the entire couch sinks in on my side with a loud "clunk."

I'm appalled, but everyone else just laughs.

"It'll take a while to get used to your new strength, Bells." Emmett chuckled. "Heck, I think that on one of my first days, I threw a wad of paper at a wall, and it busted straight through it!"

I now remember the broken bathroom door upstairs.

I know this is normal, but it still is slightly embarrassing.

But then again, I'm used to being a klutz and embarrassing myself; it's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It's just a little different now is all.

We spend the next couple of hours just, hanging out. I didn't think it was possible, but I feel more at home with them now than I even did in the past. And really, that's saying a lot.

I haven't asked for more blood, but I am beginning to feel the hunger rising up again. Carlisle somehow knows this, and so we all take a trip to the kitchen. Carlisle opens the refrigerator door, and I'm surprised to see bags upon bags of blood there.

"Specially stocked, just for you." Alice grins. "It's a good idea, huh? And you can either have it cold, or warm it up."

It is in fact a marvelous idea.

Alice freezes up at this point, and I can tell she is having a vision. When she comes to, she's smiling. "Bella, run back upstairs to your room. Edward is about to be home, and boy is he going to be in for a surprise!"

_Edward. _

I don't need to be told twice. I run back upstairs, only realizing once I'm there that I had been running at vampire speed., with a half a new goblet full of blood in hand, and hadn't tripped or spilled anything.

Advantages of being a vampire: immortality, beauty, strength, speed, and natural grace (so, no more klutzy Bella!)

I throw the rest of the blood back in my mouth like it's a shot of liquor, turn off the lights, and wait for Edward to come find me.

XXXXXXXXXX

A/N: Don't worry, I'm already working on the next one. It might even be up later today  As always, R&R!!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: WARNING**: If you have a problem reading physically intimate scenes, you might not want to read this chapter. :-)

Edward's POV

The moment she falls into my arms, I have the fleeting thought that I don't care whether heaven is real or not; as long as I can have Bella in my arms, I'm better off than I could ever be there.

The lights are still off, but I can see pretty well in the dark. And what I see astounds me. Just for certainty, I reach over and turn the lights on, never letting her go.

I was right: she is even more beautiful than before. I hadn't thought it was possible, yet here the proof was, standing in front of me.

She looked so delicate, so pure. Only my family and I know that underneath that beautiful disguise lay a powerful beast, and we have to help her learn to tame it.

But that can wait. For now, I just want to hold her, to touch her, to posses her with all my being.

She seems to be of the same mindset; she pulls my head to her own quite powerfully and out lips meet. It is at this moment that I realize something else: I was no longer having to fight the urge to kill her when I'm in close contact with her! Now that I don't have to worry about tasting her blood, I can let down all of the physical and emotional walls I still had put up around her.

I know the 'lack of blood' scenario has been a cause of concern for Bella in the past. She has wondered whether or not I could still love her if her blood no longer was calling for me. I had known all along that my love was about more than her blood, yet I never expected it to exponentially grow! But it has.

After a couple of minutes, we separate. It's not as if we need to breathe; but we have barely spoken to each other as of yet.

I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear as I tell say "Bella, I love you." I have never been overwhelmed by an emotion as much as I am now.

She smiles, and it is the most dazzling thing I have ever seen. "I love you too," she whispers.

I decide to lighten the mood temporarily. I pull her to sit on my leather couch. "SO, I hear that you had a strangely quick reaction to the venom. You're so weird sometimes, Bella." I say jokingly.

She laughs. "I know, but this is strange, even for me. We're gonna have to sit and try to figure out what happened sometime soon." She pauses. "But there're other things I want to do first."

She gives me a suggestive look, and I think I know what's on her mind.

But instead, she jumps up quickly. "But first, I need more blood." And within seconds, she is out the door and in the kitchen.

I shake my head as I laugh to myself; blood thirsty Bella was strange, but I suppose I will quickly get used to it. I follow her into the kitchen, where she is raiding the refrigerator. She has filled a large goblet with blood and has her head thrown back, drinking it hungrily. She refills it, drinks it. Then refills it a third time. "I think that I might need this in a little while, but won't be willing to come back downstairs any time soon." She laughs as she once again runs, at vampire speed, back upstairs.

Now I know that my suspicions were right earlier, and I am more than happy to oblige.

When I get to our room, she reaches her arm out as if to slam the door. But I had seen the bathroom door earlier, so I catch her arm and slam the door myself. I bolt it and when I turn around, she pulls me to her fiercely.

It's at this moment that I remember something else about newly-turned vampires: they are very in tune with their sexuality. It's part of a vampire's powers over their hypothetical human prey, and therefore it is a driving force that too needs to be learned to control.

But not tonight. Not with me.

She is kissing my lips and her hands are already working to untuck my shirt. We've both kicked our shoes off, and it's at this point in time that Bella leaps into my arms and wraps her legs around my waist.

Oh man.

I have her to the bed in a matter of seconds. I yank her sweater off as she removes my belt. We collapse into bed. Now I'm lying on top of her, and I'm pinning her arms above her head. As I said, I can now be as physical with her as I want without the fear of hurting her.

And somehow I know this is what she wants.

She's kissing my hungrily, and when I kiss her back just as fervently, she moans.

I swear I get shivers.

I'm already going crazy, and it's only been a matter of minutes.

But that's another good thing about being a vampire: we can keep going on and on, for much longer than even the most 'skilled' humans.

We were in for a treat tonight.

We both scrambled out of our jeans and underclothes. I pin her down firmly as I fully take advantage of the situation. She is beautiful, she is amazing, she is mine.

Just as I'm trailing kisses up her stomach, she grabs me by the back of the head. "My turn." She says seductively. Then she flips us over and takes the top. Bella, wanting to be in control? This is new, but this is great.

She tempts me, she teases me, she makes me wait for a very long time. I vaguely wonder where she picked up on all of this, but then remember it's all part of her new instincts. Finally, she leans down and kisses me passionately as she firmly grinds her hips towards mine and grants me access. And when she does, it's more mindblowing than any time before.

We make a lot of noise, I know. I wonder about the damage to the room for about a millisecond before tossing the thought aside. I don't care about the rest of the house, all I care about is her.

XXXXXXXXXX

We didn't leave our room until 4pm the next day. We had taken a couple of breaks throughout our "session." We would have had to come down earlier, but someone had taken the initiative to put another goblet of blood outside our bedroom door.

I love my family.

When we finally do immerge from our room though, the house is empty.

"Where are they all?" Bella asks.

"I actually think today they were all going to go hunting." I remember.

"When do I need to start, you know, going on those trips?"

I laugh as I kiss the top of her head. The thought of my Bella hunting is a funny one. "In a few weeks, love. For now, the refrigerator is your prey, so go, indulge yourself." I pause. "On second thought, I think I'll join you." I too am very hungry, but there is no way I am leaving Bella for even a second.

So we get two glasses and fill them to the brim. It almost looks like a very thick wine, and as she ravishes in the feeling of it sliding down her throat, I am once again struck by her beauty.

I quickly down my glass. It really isn't very good blood; the fact that it's not fresh makes me cringe slightly. But it will do for now. And to Bella, it's delectable.

She has yet to voice a craving for human blood, but I know that she will soon enough. It's something that we all have to cope with at some point or another. It's actually one of the worst parts of being turned, because the first few times you are struck with a craving for human blood, you feel like an absolute monster. I don't want Bella to have to feel that way, but it's inevitable. All I can do is be there to help her through it.

She has finished her glass by this point. "Why are you staring at me?" She asks, her voice tinted with both amusement and apprehension.

Oh Bella, always a worrywart.

I smile. How can I even begin to explain why I am staring at her? Words simply cannot justify all of the things I am feeling for her at this moment.

But I get an idea of how to show her how I feel. I grab her hand and lead her to my piano. She sits on the bench beside me, and I close my eyes as I try to resurrect the song about her I had been playing only days before.

I remember most of it, and what I'm not sure about, I improvise. The implications are the same. And even to an untrained ear, the message would be clear.

When I finish, she places her hands over mine on the keys. Now she is speechless, so instead she turns on the bench and kisses me.

It is at this moment that my entire family bursts through the front door.

"Well hello there you two," Emmett says suggestively. "Nice to see you up and about finally."

Bella does her 'blushing face', minus the blush that is. I scowl at Emmett, but only half-heartedly. He laughs.

Rosalie speaks up now. "I have an idea. Why don't we all go watch the sunset?"

I think it's a marvelous idea, and am slightly shocked the Rosalie is being so accepting of the new addition to our family. She was very opposed to it in the beginning, but eventually she came around. But I never thought she would suggest something so truly meaningful for Bella.

You see, sunset, sunrise, and noon are the times of the day that our skin shines the most radiantly. Bella had yet to see her own skin in the sunlight, so this would be a magical moment for her. Also, vampires have better eyesight than humans, so the shining is even more brilliant than it would be to human eyes.

Everyone understands this situation, so everyone is in a great mood as we pack up a picnic basket of bottles of blood. It's a perverse, yet it's a strangely quintessential family outing.

To an outsider, we would look like the most attractive group of people to ever grace one another's presence. Four stunningly beautiful couples, each one hand in hand, strolling across the grass with a picnic basket in tow.

The moment we step out of the shade and into the brilliant sunlight, I hear Bella gasp. Her hand squeezes mine as she first turns to look at all of us, and then begins looking at herself. She turns her hand over slowly, taking in the entirety of its shimmer. There's just something about seeing your vampire skin for the first time that is enthralling, and Bella was having that moment right now.

She turns and links her arms around my neck, kissing me sweetly.

"Oh wow," she breathes as she opens her eyes and turns them up towards mine. She notices something she's never been able to see before: our eyes sparkle too. As I look into her diamond bespeckled eyes and she into mine, the electricity between us is almost tangible.

And it must be so, because I hear Jasper clear his throat. "Sorry," I apologize. In this moment, I'm truly glad that I'm not in Jasper's place; his gift would make situations like this very frustrating to witness.

The eight of us sit down on a grassy hill to watch the sunset. This is truly the happiest moment of my entire life, and as I lay in the dying sunlight, with Bella in my arms, I know that this is only the first of many more to come.

A/N: AAAH I LOVE WRITING ABOUT THEM! Please R&R if you're still interested and want me to keep going.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Wish it was all mine, but it's not. Just the plot.**

Bella's POV

It has been two days since my bite.

Two hours since we came in from the sunset 'picnic.'

And two minutes since I used my power for the first time.

It was completely on accident, but I suppose it usually is. We came inside because there was a baseball game that Emmett wanted to watch, and the rest of us were up for it. So we gathered in the living room as Carlisle clicked on the bigscreen tv.

Everyone got comfortable on the various couches in the room. I sat down carefully and was idly flipping through a magazine, when all of a sudden I found myself having a strong craving; but not for blood. I was struck with an intense desire to drag Edward upstairs to our room. Now, there'd obviously been times in the past that I really wanted him, but this was different; I felt like I needed fulfillment immediately or else I'd go crazy.

But Edward had his back turned to me and was deep in conversation with Rosalie. There was no way for me to get his attention without making my situation glaringly obvious. And while I was comfortable with my new family, I wasn't ready for those particular feelings of mine to be known by all.

But the desire was eating me alive. The only way to describe it is that it was like a pit of fire in my abdomen that was slowly consuming my body. I focused intently on the magazine in my lap and really thought I was doing a great job concealing my problem, but Jasper walked up to me with a knowing smirk on his face.

Then I remembered his sensitivity to other people's feelings. I was so embarrassed that I accidentally ripped the magazine in half as I tried to turn a page. I sat the ripped magazine aside as I carefully avoided the Jasper's gaze.

Of course, he took this as an invitation to sit down beside me. When I finally looked at him, he was still wearing an "I know what you're feeling" grin.

"Don't worry; as new vampires, we all had to go through this kind of thing at one time or another." He whispered. "You know, I can alleviate that problem if you want." He said casually. When I raised an eyebrow at his suggestive language, he quickly corrected his sentence. "What I mean is, I can use my power to dull that problem of yours."

Though still embarrassed about my situation, I was more frustrated with myself. So I agreed to let him help. "Just don't make it obvious, ok?"

He nodded solemnly. Physical contact isn't necessary for Jasper's powers, but it makes them even stronger and more affective. So he casually scooted closer to me so that our shoulders and arms touched.

It was in the next second that we discovered my power.

Because I knew that the strong desire I had for Edward was about to be calmed down, I closed my eyes to indulge myself in it. While I was thankful for Jasper's help, I found myself wanting nothing more than for Edward to figure out what I was feeling and to help solve this problem in a more carnal way.

I heard Edward gasp, so I opened my eyes. He had turned around and was staring at me with an expression I was very familiar with. It seemed like a completely blank expression, except for the strong desire I could see in his eyes. He shook his head to himself and ran his hand over his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This brings us to the present. Edward is walking toward me in large strides, and before I know what's happening, I have been lifted to my feet. He kisses my firmly before speaking. "Bella, I was just able to tell what you're thinking and feeling for the first time in my life."

I'm surprised, but excited. We're talking only to each other, but everyone is listening intently. "Do you think that you can read my mind now, then?"

He shakes his head. "No, because it was different. When I hear people's thoughts, it's like I'm eavesdropping; the thoughts are only directed at themselves. Even if they're wishing for something, it's always in a first-person way. Reflective. I could hear your thoughts in that way, but at the same time, it was different." He pauses as he searches for words. "It was like instead of eavesdropping on your conversation with yourself, you were whispering everything in my ear; it was directed to me. And what's more than that, I'm never able to physically FEEL what someone is feeling; but I just could with you." He has taken my hands and is absent-mindedly rubbing circles on the backs of my hands with his thumbs.

By now, Carlisle has walked over to join the conversation. "Bella, it sounds like this might have been done by you. Now I need you to think, and tell me exactly what you were doing when this happened."

By this point, I've lost all shyness about what I'd been feeling; the excitement of this is so much more intense! "I was sitting on the couch, when I was suddenly overcome with…an urge." I pause here, but I see that everyone understands what I mean, so I continue. "Jasper could tell, so he came over to use his power to ease the feelings. I'd been wishing the entire time that Edward could tell what I wanted…so I have no idea how it finally worked." I admit.

"Do you think she has the same power as Jasper?" Edward asks. "Or even a combination of the powers that Jasper and I have?"

Carlisle is staring off into space, deep in thought. He shakes his head slowly. Then I see a noticeable change in his expression. His face is now filled with suppressed enthusiasm. "Ok, now I need to know something. Were you touching Jasper?"

I'm about to say no, because I'm thinking of more direct contact, like holding hands or something. But I remember that we were in fact touching, (our shoulders and arms) so that his power would work more strongly on me.

I explain this to Carlisle, still not sure where this is going.

But Edward can read Carlisle's thoughts, and suddenly he's furious and glaring at his father. "NO!" he growls. The rest of us are confused. "You must be wrong. Do you know how the Volturi will react when they find this out?"

Carlisle ignores him and addresses me. "I believe that your power is stronger than those of anyone in this room, and maybe stronger than all of the Volturi. Let me explain. Originally I was thinking that you may indeed have a power similar to Edward or Jasper. But when you said that you'd been wishing in the same way for a while before anything happened, I changed lines of thought. It seems as if Edward was able to hear and feel you the second you were in physical contact with Jasper." He hesitates. "I think… I think that you are able to channel others' powers, Bella. I think it requires direct physical contact, like Aro and others, but if I'm right…"

"Wait, wait. So you really think this is possible? I mean, why would I have such a strong power Carlisle? I'm just… Bella." I stutter lamely.

"You have always reacted strangely to our powers though." Alice says thoughtfully. "I can see you in my visions, and Jasper can influence how you feel, but you've always been resistant to Edward's power. Jane's too. You could control vampire powers enough as a human to block certain ones, so maybe now you have complete control over them, but require physical contact."

During this entire conversation, Edward is standing behind me with one arm wrapped protectively around my waist.

"There's only one way to find out." I say under my breath. Before anyone knows what I'm doing, I'm closing my eyes and focusing on hearing everyone's thoughts since Edward and I are touching.

I immediately think that everyone in the room is yelling. It's so loud! I don't know how Edward handles this; it's all a jumble, and there're only 7 other people in the room. I can only imagine how chaotic it is in crowds! It is hard to sort the voices out, but the clearest one to me is Edwards.

He is thinking, "I can't hear anything anymore!"

Edward lets go of me and I can no longer hear everyone's thoughts.

When I open my eyes, everyone is staring at me. Edward looks incredibly disturbed; worry is written all over his face.

"So, did it work?" Rosalie asks curiously. Since she herself hasn't discovered a power as of yet, she is very interested in everyone else's.

I nod.

Edward speaks up. "But there's something I don't like, Carlisle. When she channeled Jasper's power, I was able to hear her thoughts. So I think that when she channels another vampire's power, her own shield against other people's powers goes down." He looks around at everyone. "But at the same time… I think she absorbs the power of the vampire she's in contact with; she doesn't just copy their power, she takes it away from them and uses it herself. You see, when she channeled mine I couldn't hear her thoughts, but I couldn't anybody's thoughts; I haven't had absolute silence like that in as far back as I can remember!"

Carlisle is contemplative again. "Ok, let's try this. Let her channel Alice. Let's see if you can hear her thoughts when you're no longer involved. That will prove or disprove your theory that her shield drops."

So Edward steps away from me, and Alice walks up. She smiles sweetly before warning me. "Just so you know, having visions is very disturbing, Bells. Sometimes they're hard to fall out of, so I'm going to break our contact pretty soon after I see that you're beginning one, ok?"

I nod. I seem to be doing a lot of that tonight.

Alice takes my hand. I close my eyes again and focus on channeling Alice's visions. I immediately feel like I am falling down a deep black hole, complete with all the gut-wrenching side affects of free-falling. Then I suddenly see something; I see a lightbulb in the chandelier going out.

The next thing I know, I'm being pulled up out of the 'black hole' of a vision as if I'm on the end of one of Charlie's fishing reels. When I'm able to open my eyes, the first person I see is Alice, whose face is only inches from mine.

"Did you see anything? Because I couldn't."

"Ya, but it was stupid. It was…"

"…it was a lightbulb in the chandelier going out." Edward finishes for me. So it's true; when I am absorbing another vampire's power, my shield goes down.

"Still, it was a vision. And I couldn't see anything!" Alice presses on. "Even when I'm not having a vision, I have this sort of…eternal presence of 'the vortex' as I call it. It's like I'm always walking in a circle around the mouth of it, just waiting to be pulled in again. But when you were channeling me, I couldn't feel it at all anymore. It was so weird!"

I'm still soaking in all of the implications of this entire situation. It seems to be too big and too intense of a power for me!

Just then, there was a noticeable change in the lighting of the room. I look up; the lightbulb just went out.

Carlisle takes a deep breath. "Well we apparently have figured out Bella's power. The only downside is that using it leaves her susceptible to other powers, even those she normally has an immunity to. It's possible that there is more to it, but I'm fairly sure we have most of it uncovered." Then in hopes of lightening the mood he says, "This has been a very enlightening night."

When everyone still looks to be deep in thought, he catches Jasper's eye. He gets the idea and silently calms everyone in the room.

I take Edward's hand and he immediately snatches it away. I'm appalled; he's never done that before! I know if I could still cry, tears would be pricking my eyes. As it is, I turn away and quickly run into the kitchen. It was time to have a drink anyway.

I'm fast, but Edward is faster. When I reach the refrigerator, he is already there. All the lights are off, but I can still see him clearly. He takes my face in his both of his hands and kisses me passionately.

After a moment, he stops kissing me, but is still holding my face in his hands. "I'm sorry for snatching my hand away, Bella. But I was so deep in thought about the situation, so wrapped up in the idea that physical contact is what lets you use people's powers, that I assumed you were trying to channel mine again. And I didn't want you hearing everything they were thinking."

I don't even care that he is suggesting there are thoughts he needs to protect me from.

I'm staring into his eyes. I'm still upset, and I know he can tell from the look on my face.

And because he hurt my feelings, he looks like an emotion wreck as well.

I had forgiven him as soon as he'd kissed me, but now my love for him swells. I softly give him a peck on the lips. "It's ok, I understand. Just don't let it happen again, or else I'll think you're getting sick of me already." I try to joke.

He smiles sadly. Ever since we got back together after he temporarily left me, he has been overly careful to not upset me. He still feels guilty for that, and the fact that he'd just hurt my feelings is killing him. I can tell that much even without channeling Jasper.

I pull away from him momentarily. It's an intense moment, but I really need blood right now. So I help myself to a couple of glasses. I can feel him staring at me the entire time, and it sends shivers up my spine.

When I finish my drink, he sweeps me off my feet. Literally. He then runs me upstairs and I find myself being lain down very gently on the bed. I'm a bit disoriented from the run, but quickly find his perfect arms slipping around my waist as he slides into bed with me.

Those same arms had once felt icy cold. Now, my skin literally tingles when his touches it. It's not actual warmth, but it's the closest thing to warmth I feel anymore. I snuggle closer to him to indulge in the 'warmth' and sigh. He kisses me on the forehead. We lay silently like this, snuggling, for hours.

**A/N: Yay! So I had a lot of fun thinking about Bella's power, could you tell? ******


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: still only the plot is mine.

Edward's POV

The moment I heard Carlisle's theory about Bella's power, I was furious.

But it made sense.

And I hated it.

If Bella really did have this extraordinary gift, it would only be a matter of time before the Volturi discovered it. And once they did, they would want her to join their guard even more than they already do. From the moment they met her, they suspected that she would have a strong gift based on her reaction to our powers.

Unfortunately, they were right.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Now, laying here in bed with Bella, I cannot help but be terrified. I know the Volturi, and I know that they will use any means necessary to get what they want. We're expecting a visit from them any time now; they're supposed to be "making sure we kept our word" concerning Bella's transformation.

If that were the end of the problem, life would be a breeze right about now.

But because Aro can read everyone's past and current thoughts by touching them, keeping her power a secret is going to be next to impossible.

So I am laying here, holding my love, and thinking. This night is like so many others in our past; me, holding her protectively as I think about all of the problems in my life. In our lives.

It was during some of these same late night thinking sessions that I made the decision to leave Bella last year. I put so much thought into it; it took me weeks to build up my courage to do it, and the incident at her birthday party was just the breaking point. While it hurt like hell, I truly thought it would be what was best for her.

In truth, it was the most painful experience of my life. I know how terribly it hurt her, but I think it hurt me just as badly, if not worse. It wasn't a selfish act by any means; it was selfLESS.

Everything I am and every choice I make has to do with her.

And for that, I'll never be sorry.

But I AM sorry for my stupidity and my blindness when it came to that decision. I haven't forgiven myself for what I put her through, and I don't think I ever will. No matter how often I hear her say that she has forgiven me, I know she'll always have emotional scars from it.

Tonight, when I pulled my hand away from her, I saw the pain well up in her eyes for the first time in quite a while. And that cut me deeper than I can even begin to explain.

I feel my throat constricting now and know that my body is fighting dry sobs; I'm lying here with her and making plans and decisions about her safety, just like before.

The differences are one now I wouldn't leave her for anything.

And two she cannot sleep anymore, so I know she feels my dry sobs.

We've been lying in silence for a couple of hours, each lost in our own trains of thought, but when she feels my body shaking, she immediately twists her body around so that we are face to face instead of spooning.

She kisses me before speaking. "Edward, what's the matter?" she pauses. "You can tell me anything, you know."

I smile sadly; the irony is too overwhelming; I don't deserve her!

I decide that now is not the best time to voice my worries about the Volturi, so instead I say, "I'm fine, really. Just daydreaming."

She doesn't seem to completely believe me, but she stops prodding just the same. Which I appreciate. She sits up in bed, and then quickly leans down to kiss me. "I need to go get a drink." She says matter-of-factly. She gets out of bed and is out of the room before a human would be able to blink their eyes.

Frankly, I'm surprised that she doesn't need to feed more often. Most new vampires require an almost constant supply of blood, especially those of us who don't drink from humans. Animal blood is… diluted, so it takes more of it to get nourished. It's kind of like comparing tofu to turkey. I'm also surprised that she hasn't had a craving for human blood as of yet; but I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before it strikes her.

With nothing else to do, I approach the piano in my room. I sit down and once again play through the new song I'd written her. I decide it might be a good idea to write the composition out, so I do. It's complicated, and would normally take even the most skilled musician days to compose. But because this comes so naturally to me, and I've been doing it so long, and because I can do it with vampire-speed, I have it done in a matter of minutes. Even before Bella returns. As she is coming back into the room from feeding, I am finishing filling in the last chord. Now all that is missing is a title.

I push a couple of ideas back and forth in my mind, but most of them either sound ridiculously corny or melodramatic. Suddenly, I'm struck with a great idea: it will be called The Eve of Turning. It's a perfect summary of exactly what all was flashing through my mind as I played it for the first time.

Bella walks across the room as I'm scribbling the title down on the sheets. The sun is rising, and as I turn around to face her, the beams through the windows are making her sparkle angelically. I don't know how I got to be this lucky, but I'm eternally thankful. To who or what I don't know. But thankful I am.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We go downstairs to find something to do. Emmett is just getting out a Monopoly board and asks if we want to join.

"Of course we do," Bella says with enthusiasm. Within seconds Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie are there too. Carlisle is at the hospital working, and Esme is shopping, but for what, I'm not sure.

Once we get the board set up, Emmett launches into the rules. Not the typical rules of the game, but the special rules that have to be employed when we all play together. "Now Edward, no mind reading to scheme against people. Alice, no basing moves or purchases off of visions. Jasper, no influencing people to give you their properties or money. Rosalie, no hoarding money as the banker. And Bella," he adds, "no touching anybody."

We all laugh. "What about a special rule for you?" Bella asks mockingly.

A grin spreads across my brother's face. "Ok then. Rule for me: I won't demolish you guys too horribly."

And with that, we all launch into a game. Playing games with each other is very interesting, because despite the rules, we catch each other cheating frequently; it spices the game up.

We play a couple of rounds, when suddenly Alice freezes up.

"Hey, I thought I said no visions!"

But I knew she was looking into the future about something else, and so I glared at Emmett to shut him up.

When she came out of the vision, she threw her property cards in the air. Her eyes were dancing as she said, "What do you guys say about a little baseball tonight?"

"It's going to storm, then?" Jasper asks, though we all know the answer.

She nods. "And I think Bella would have a blast." She turns to her. "After all, you've seen us play, but haven't you ever wondered how great it'd be to play instead of watch?"

Bella looks around at us all frantically. "But… I'm so bad at sports!"

I laugh. "You won't be anymore. I promise. And if you are, then we'll all be your slaves for a day or something."

Bella leans over and pretends to start putting the game pieces up. But in doing so, her elbow is on Jasper's knee. Then she spikes our excitement about the baseball game, but by such a small amount that that I doubt anyone else noticed. But I soon learn her real intentions.

She's letting me read her mind.

"I'll suck on purpose then if it makes you my slave for a day. I can think of a million things to make you do…" she thinks. Then she grins wickedly before looking me in the eye.

I have to restrain myself from ravishing her here in the living room. As it is, I wiggle my eyebrows at her suggestively and begin helping put up the game pieces.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Now it is about 4:00pm. Alice says the storm will get here at about 4:30, so we start gathering materials for the game.

We need balls, bats, and blood (for Bella.) We learned the hard way that we cannot use regular human bats and balls; we specially reinforce ours to make them more durable.

We throw these and 6 bottles of blood into a bag. As we start to walk out the door, Bella stops me. "Wait, we're running aren't we?"

"Of course we are. But don't worry, you'll keep up easily enough."

"But what if I get lost? I've never run there you know."

A laugh bursts out of me violently. "Trust me, you won't get lost. In fact, you'll be running, but everything around you will look the same as if you were walking. So if you can follow us walking, you can follow us running."

She still looks worried; her eyebrows are furrowed and she's biting her lip. I think it's just because she's really going to be playing a sport in a few moments and she has the butterflies about it.

So I take her hand and start us running. I'm happy to find that I can almost run full speed and she can stay caught up. Not quite, but almost. That makes her faster than either Alice or Rosalie, and maybe even Jasper.

We reach the meadow easily. The others are already sitting on a small hill waiting for us.

We split into teams. This takes a while, because we don't want one team to be much better than the other team. In the end, we decide on me, Bella, and Jasper against Emmett, Rosalie, and Alice.

The rest of us fall into habit easily enough. Our team is up to bat first. Emmett is pitching and Jasper is batting. He hits the first ball thrown to him, and Alice is off in a flash to catch it. She does, so he's out.

I decide to let Bella go next so that I can coach her if need be. And truth be told, she approaches home plate awkwardly. I hand her a bat, and she's not even sure which side of the plate to stand on! I position her as I explain, "Emmett is going to pitch to you too. He'll throw it more gently than he did to Jasper, and I think you'll find that you'll be quite good at this. So when the ball is coming, just, try to hit it is all. When you do, you run to first base, and if you can make it to second, third, or all the way home, go for it."

She looks up at the sky as lightening flashes and takes a deep breath. "Alright, fine. But I don't think this is a good idea. I usually hurt people when I play sports."

I give her an unconvinced look. "Think about it. Do you really think you'll be able to hurt US?"

She giggles, and takes the bat from my hand. Just to be safe, I take a few steps back. When Emmett pitches, Bella immediately flinches away from the ball. She turns to look at me and raises her arms in an "I told you so" fashion.

She starts to walk away, but I stop her by gesturing for her to go back and try again.

She growls.

I'm not even sure she knows she did it. I'm surprised at first, but then find that it is absolutely adorable.

Emmett pitches once again, and this time she makes contact. Not only does she make contact, the ball flies out of sight. Both Alice and Rosalie take off after it, and Emmett stands there dumbfounded.

"Run Bella!!" I yell.

She looks surprised herself as she drops the bat and takes off for first base. Then Second. Then Third. And now she's heading towards home plate. Now I see the other girls running out of the woods at full speed.

"Hurry!" I yell in Bella's direction.

So Bella turns up the speed as well. I'm standing at home plate, and as she crosses the plate, she doesn't stop in time and crashes into me.

We hit the ground with a 'thud' and roll a good twenty feet.

The ground is soaking wet, and we already were too. But now we're covered in mud.

When we stop, we're both laughing hysterically.

"I TOLD you I hurt people when I play sports!" she says in between giggles as she flings a handful of mud at me.

"And I told you that you would be good at this and enjoy it!" I say as I wipe the mud out of my eye. "Looks like we're both right."

The game continues for about an hour before the storm clears up. Final score is our team-12, the other team-9.

Despite the fact that we're all drenched (or in mine and Bella's cases, caked with mud,) we couldn't be happier. We go back to our supply bag to put our gear up. Bella took a break a little while ago to drink a couple of bottles of blood, and now she's helping herself to a third. The rest of us split one bottle, just as a refreshment. This whole bottled blood idea was a really good idea; I need to remember to thank Carlisle when we get home.

But this also reminds me that I need to hunt soon. Sometime in the next couple of days at least. Maybe I'll even take Bella.

As we're all getting ready to head back to the house, Bella squints up her face and coughs. "What's that smell?"

It only takes the rest of us another second to notice it too. Alice and I look at each other.

"Damn werewolf immunity to my visions!" she thinks bitterly.

I listen intently for the voice I know I'm going to hear.

**A/N: Heh, had to bring them into the picture! And sorry this is a transition chapter; prolly the least interesting one yet (?) But what's going to happen next, 'eh? I guess only I know; you'll just have to wait patiently and see! ******** Please R&R, the more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to update soon.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: nope. Not mine. Wish it were.**

Bella's POV

The smell is disgusting! And it's not as if it's the most putrid thing I've ever smelled either; it's just that for some reason, I find myself reacting to it strangely. I mean, it merely smells very strongly of wet dogs. Maybe wet dogs that have been living in a garbage dump for a while, but wet dogs nonetheless.

I smell it first, but the others soon notice too. And when they do, I can tell from Alice and Edward's faces that something is wrong.

Edward's eyes flash for a moment, but he soon collects himself. In fact, I wouldn't be able to tell anything was wrong anymore if it weren't for his tightened jaw, and the fact that he is by my side instantly and wraps his arms protectively around my waist.

Alice starts speaking very quickly. "The werewolves are here. I obviously can't see them, so I don't know which ones are here." She winces apologetically, "but we are going to keep Bella under control. She hasn't been around any creatures but us, and if she attacks one of her old friends, she'll never forgive herself."

I'm barely able to register what she's saying when Edward squeezes my abdomen tighter from behind and whispers in my ear, "You're going to be fine. Now, don't be too hard on yourself for your instinct to attack; we won't let you." He kisses me on the cheek and then props his chin on my shoulder as we wait for the werewolves to approach.

Edward's eyes only leave the trees long enough to ask Rosalie to run back to the house to get a lot more blood; apparently I'm going to need it.

_Jacob._

I cannot believe I haven't thought of him since my transformation! It's only been a few days, but this makes me feel horrible; what kind of friend am I anyway? I would love to talk to him…

Suddenly, I get an idea. Without hesitating to ask, I tap into Edward's power.

I'm immediately accosted with what sounds like a million voices. But I know there are far fewer; it's just us and the pack of werewolves. So, careful to avoid Edward's thoughts for the time being, I slowly start sifting through the voices until I find Jacob's.

It doesn't take me long. What I hear would bring tears to my eyes, were I still able to cry.

"She's dead, she's one of them, she's not my Bella anymore.

But… she IS though, and she always will be.

Ugh! I can't believe she didn't even call me before it happened! I haven't seen her since the wedding, and we didn't even speak then. I probably haven't talked to her in a month, and she still didn't have the decency to visit me or call me before…before she became this…_thing_.

Well, there's no going back now...

Ya, There is definitely no going back.

I still love her so much!

I just have to see her, have to talk to her, have to know that she's still Bella. I have to know that we will really be ok, even though we should technically be enemies…"

This is the constant stream of thoughts pouring out of his mind. I can even hear the tone of his thoughts as they progress from confused to mournful. I stop listening when I hear Edward mentally shouting for me to stop.

I stop using his power, and he turns me around quickly to stare into my eyes.

"There was absolutely no reason for you to hear those things, Bella!" He scolds me like a child as he holds my face between his hands. His eyes are filled with a mix of sorrow and anger, but when he sees the hurt in my eyes, the anger evaporates. "Shh… it's ok. We'll try to work this out. You heard him, he still loves you too…" he whispers as he envelops me in a hug and strokes my hair.

As much as I would like to ignore the stench, I cannot. As the pack approaches us, it becomes almost unbearable. I think that this, and dealing with Jacob, will be my worst problems, but I am wrong.

The moment they pack immerges from the treeline, I feel a pull from my gut. I have the strongest desire to run and lunge myself at them; I want it more than anything in the world. I feel like I am having an intense adrenaline rush, and that I am thoroughly dehydrated. Blood…I need blood. And those pups down there are full of it….

I shake my head violently as Jasper approaches me with the final two bottles of blood; God I hope Rosalie returns soon! I down them both instantly, hoping that this will quench my thirst. Nobody has to use their powers on me to understand how I am feeling right now; I've never been around animals as a vampire, and I've most certainly not been around humans! The werewolves are a blend of both, and I… I am losing control.

I'm shaking violently with the act of restraining myself. I know at this moment that my eyes are jet black and the skin under my eyes looks especially bruised. I'm feeling more and more out of control, but I am aware of Edward's arms still firmly around me. He begins to explain things to me in a very gentle tone, and he seems to know exactly what I'm thinking, although I know he doesn't. "Your venom is building up, causing you to feel more desire to hunt, to kill. This is going to be a difficult situation for you, but I'm not going to let you do anything you'll regret. Just remember, those are your friends down there."

My friends. Yes, these guys were my best friends once upon a time. I have to relax, I have to remember everything and not give in… but maybe if I just took Seth; he's smaller and younger than the rest, and I don't know him very well…

I squeeze Edward's hand as I realize what I had just contemplated. Even my rationality was being taken over by the venom!

By this point, the wolves have stopped about 30ft from us. They form a line, and all of my family comes to stand in a tight circle around me. I have an absurd notion that we're on a chess board and I'm the Queen being protected. I look around at all the wolves frantically, fighting between seeing them as my friends and a source of blood.

"Pay attention to the details," Edward whispers. "Think about figuring out who is who, that will force you to think of them as individuals."

I swallow hard, and the bitter-sweet taste of my venom tickles my throat. But he's right. As I look at the pack, I'm easily able to discern Sam, Quil, Embry, Seth, and Leah. But then I find Jacob. His perfect fur is coated with rain, and he is sitting to the left side of Sam. His body language shows the emotions he is feeling: his ears are lain down and small whimpers are escaping his throat. I feel a strong emotion well up inside of myself…I look into his eyes and the moment I do, my vampire instinct to hunt all but disappears. It still lingers somewhat, yes, but it's more comparable to a craving than a necessity now.

I haven't broken eye contact with Jacob yet. I struggle against Edward's grip, but he holds me firmly. I twist around in his arms and look him in the eyes now. "I'm ok now. I promise." He looks skeptical, so I gesture for Jasper to step closer to me. "Go ahead, check if you don't believe me."

I tap into Jasper's powers, sending calming ripples over everybody. The moment I do, I feel Edward delving into my mind. Just to prove my point completely, I focus Jasper's power on letting Edward feel exactly what I am feeling. If he didn't already know that a part of me loved and still loves Jacob, then this would be a problem. He knows that, but he also knows how much more I love him than Jake, so I trust him to understand.

I break contact with Jasper and consequently boot Edward out of my mind. I look up at him, and I think I see a flicker of sadness cross his face, but he quickly covers it with a weak smile. He gives me a peck on the cheek and slowly lets go of my waist.

I lock eyes with Jacob again. I approach the pack very cautiously, and they all seem to be on guard as well. As I cross the ground that lies between me and my best friend, me and my would-have-been lover in another life, I notice that my family takes steps closer to the pack as well. I don't care; I just have to get to Jacob.

I stop about a foot in front of him. He lowers his head to my level. We stare at each other, and it's just as it has always been. There's no need for words. I'm suddenly overcome with a mixture of joy and longing, so I throw my arms around him. He is stiff at first, but when he understands that I mean him no harm, he relaxes and nuzzles his snout against my head. He whimpers softly, and I understand exactly how he feels.

After a couple of moments, we separate. When we do, he sneezes and then smacks his chops and sticks his tongue out. Again, I understand: I apparently reek to him too.

As I laugh, I hear Edward begin speaking.

Edward speaks slowly and deliberately. "You were right, Sam. It is safer for you to be here in wolf form that in human form as far as Bella is concerned, but it's still not a good idea." He pauses, fighting to keep his voice calm. "What are you doing here?" And although Edward is trying very hard for my sake to keep control, I hear the snarl in his voice.

Not being able to hear the silent conversations going on in their heads frustrates me. I'm only able to hear Edward's side of the conversation, but it's enough to figure out what is going on.

"Yes, I know we weren't supposed to bite anybody. But she went through with this voluntarily; we didn't hurt an oblivious person! She all but begged us to do it, so what's the harm in that?"

He is silent as he listens to Sam. Then, he lets out a low growl.

"If you are implying that we forced her to do this, then maybe we should acknowledge that the truce is broken so that we can…" Alice cuts off Edward's angry tirade just in time.

So the werewolves feel that biting me was a breech of their truce. How insane is that! I turn to Jacob for help, but he doesn't seem to know what to do.

I need blood, I realize. I need more blood now. Conveniently, it is at this precise moment that Rosalie runs back into the meadow with a large bag. The werewolves are surprised and immediately all jump up from their sitting positions, ready to retaliate if she attacks. Instead, she thrusts the bag in my arms. I rip it open to find it full of bottles of blood; there have to be at least 20 in there! I rip the cap off one and down the bottle. When that's gone, I drink two more before pausing to look at Jacob. Even in wolf form, I can see the distaste and discomfort he feels about my eating habits now.

Meanwhile, Edward and Sam are still talking. "You knew before-hand that we were going to turn her, so why didn't you confront us about this then?" he pauses as Sam responds, then he says, "Even, hypothetically, if we broke the treaty, what would you suggest we do now?"

I notice Jacob pawing at the mud. He's writing something! I bend down to look at the one word scrawled sloppily on the ground.

Switzerland.

I understand instantly. I should be the one negotiating between the pack and my family. I'm the common middle ground. And although I'm obviously partial to the vampires' side now, I am the closest thing to neutral in this field. Just as I was between Jacob and Edward, I am Switzerland.

I leave Jake's side for Edward's. "Let me, please?" I ask simply. I know he heard Jacob's suggestion, so he knows what I want to do. Edward looks around at everyone, both sides, and then sighs before giving me a slight nod.

I turn to the pack to explain as I grab another bottle of blood. "I can tap into others' powers, so I am going to act as the middle grounds now, I'll be able to communicate with you through your thoughts."

I take Edward's hand and focus on hearing everyone's thoughts. I'm hit with them, and it's like I've been thrown into the middle of a crowded stadium. Edward is right… the pack's inter-communication system is amazing! I think of this like a radio: usually, I have to focus in on one "channel" to hear somebody clearly, but with the wolves, I can focus on just one "channel" and easily sift my way through them all.

"Bella," I hear Sam think quietly in order to get my attention. "This is a most interesting talent you have."

"Thanks," I say aloud.

"You know I have considered you a friend, an ally to the tribe in the past. In truth, there was a time that I thought you were going to switch to our side permanently. But now you are one of them, don't you understand? As much as I would like to still welcome you to La Push, I cannot. And that's not the extent of the problem. By biting you, the Cullens breached the contract. Now that that has happened, war is inevitable. They broke the peace treaty, and now we must do our duty."

"No!" I cry frantically. "You can't do that! Neither of you would stop until you annihilate the other side! So then we'll all be dead! Listen, I know that you don't approve of what happened and I know that the contract was made in order to exist peacefully, but why does me being bit threaten the peace?"

"Because they didn't consult us first! Had they contacted us and presented us with the circumstances, we would feel that they weren't just blandly breaking the contract... but that they were looking for a compromise. That would have still been problematic, but more tolerable. As it is, they defied the contract, and in doing so, nullified the peace agreement." He pauses before continuing. "Was this really your decision, Bella?"

I'm surprised at his sudden switch in topics, but I reply, "Yes, absolutely, 100. I had to force them to do it actually."

"I'm surprised. I knew that it was your choice from Jacob, but I thought surely there was some kind of ultimatum given?"

"None whatsoever. At least not the way you think. Actually, Edward's ultimatum was that I had to both graduate and marry him before he would turn me! He wasn't the one who was overly anxious; I was. Look, Sam, is there really no way to sort this out peacefully? War isn't necessary, it will hurt everyone, and really, where's the peace in that? You KNOW the Cullens, you know they're different from the rest. And you know me, too. Take into consideration the alliance in the war just a couple of months ago…"

He is silent for a moment. In the mean time, I hear Jacob's frantic wishes that this will all work out.

"I believe that, taking all the new information into consideration, we can avoid a war. Yes. But, only if all of you move away. We will simply consider the contract terminated, without the necessity of engaging in a war. If any of you come back though, no matter which of you it is, everyone will have the distinct orders to attack on sight."

"But what about me seeing Dad or Billy or…" I hesitate to say his name, so I instead look at Jacob.

"I'm sorry, Bella. You can make arrangements to visit with them elsewhere. But this is the only compromise we're willing to make. Do you accept it or not?"

I don't even pause to discuss the situation with my new family. Instead, I act on my own. "Yes, we agree. Thank you Sam."

I let go of Edward's hand, letting him take up the conversation from there. As the pack and the Cullens continue to stare one another down, I go back over to Jacob. I hug him tightly, committing the feeling of his thick russet-colored fur to memory. He pulls away from me then, and shakes his back leg wildly. I look down and notice that he has his cloth shorts tied to them.

He wants to change into human form to say goodbye.

This is very risky, but I know now that I could never hurt Jacob, no matter how thirsty I am. I nod, and he runs off into the woods to change. I drink two bottles just to be safe.

He re-immerges, and the field seems to brighten with his reappearance. Quite fitting, considering I once considered him to be my sun. I run to him, and he runs to me too. He swoops me up in a tight embrace and kisses me multiple times all over my face. I cling to him; he's so warm! I knot one hand in his hair and pull him closer to me with the other. I am highly aware of the blood pulsating through his veins, and of his heart beating, but I'll be ok for just a couple more minutes…

He sits me down and looks over me from head to foot. "Bella, Bella…" He says as he rubs my arms and kisses my forehead, "We're going to keep in touch, right?"

"Of course we are! And you're going to have to come visit me, wherever we move."

"Duh." He says with one of my favorite Jake-grins on his face. But behind the grin, I see the sadness in his eyes. This is too difficult; how can I leave him behind? I love him too!

I suddenly remember something. "Look," I say as I hold up my wrist. The graduation present he gave me is still dangling there, complete with his wooden carving of a wolf. "I've never taken it off, and never will. You're part of me Jacob, and I'll always love you."

His chest swelled up and he tucks his head as he tries to fight off the tears that are welling up. "I love you too, Bells. And I'm so sorry that we never really got a shot." His voice breaks at the end of the sentence. He clears his throat before continuing. "You... you better be careful wherever you go, bloodsucker... You're a magnent for trouble." he attempts to joke.

"I will. And you better not do anything too stupid either, pup." I smile as a caress his cheek.

I lean up on my tiptoes and pull his head down towards mine slowly. Surely I can manage a peck on the lips without losing control, right?

I kiss him very quickly, and very gently, on the lips. I pull away instantly, highly aware that if I don't, he will try to deepen the kiss and I'm not sure how well I can handle that.

When we separate this time, I turn to look over my shoulder at everyone else. They are all watching us. It's much harder to judge the wolves' opinions than the Cullens'. Alice's eyebrows are knit together with worry, Rosalie looks astounded that I'm behaving so well, Emmett still looks ready to kick some werewolf butt, and Jasper is staring Edward down intently.

That just leaves Edward. He is staring at us, and I don't think I've ever seen such conflict on his beautiful face. He can hear everything Jacob is thinking and he could hear everything I'd just said. And while he's known all along that I love Jake, seeing it is really hurting him. I think he's wondering if he made a huge mistake in turning me. He honestly still has doubts about my love for him!

I have unconsciously been walking towards him, leaving Jacob on the hill. I find myself standing almost exactly in the middle of them. I turn back and forth between the two, and see hurt on both of their faces. But I've made my choice; I know who is more important, even if it is a close race.

So I blow a kiss in Jacob's direction and then run to Edward's arms. He catches me in a firm embrace. It's so much different than the one I just shared with Jacob! His is cold and tingly while Jake's was warm, Jake's was full of the passion of the moment, while this one is full of the passion of eternity. Truly Night and Day.

Edward is still upset I know, but he'd never tell me that in a million years. He puts on a stony mask of indifference, then it lights up with a faint smile as he bends to kiss me softly on the lips.

I've just kissed the two men I love on the lips, both within 30seconds of each other.

Can't say that every woman gets that chance.

Although, I guess not every woman finds herself in my particular situation...

I'll just have to have a talk with Edward about all of this later… I don't want him to hurt anymore.

Jacob runs back into the woods, changes to wolf form, then re-joins the pack.

Now Edward and Sam are talking again. "We will be gone by tomorrow night at the latest." Sam nods his head once, and then the pack begins to retreat into the woods. Jacob is the last to go. He sits there, across from me, as if trying to memorize everything about me. Then he lets out a howl, and it's almost as depressing as the one he made when he first heard that Edward and I were engaged just before the battle with Victoria's army started.

He follows the pack, and doesn't look back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We arrive home after dark. Both Esme and Carlisle are already home. Carlisle greets us at the door, but before he can say anything, everyone begins filling him in on the events of the afternoon.

"So, in conclusion, we have to move. By tomorrow afternoon." Edward wraps up our end of the discussion.

Carlisle nods wisely. "I was expecting something of the sort to happen. While we technically did breech the contract, I felt that after our alliance with the wolves against Victoria, they would be hesitant to suddenly engage in a war against us. Which is why…"

"Which is why," Esme cuts in, "I've been out shopping all day. I've been looking for a house. I think I've found a perfect place for us; you'll never guess where it is!"

**A/N: Ok, so there's the werewolf interaction. Sorry if this chapter's not so great, I wrote in a hurry. Hope you enjoy still:) Oh, and where could I possibly be moving the Cullens, eh? You'll never guess.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

Edward's POV

Esme took me off guard when she said she had been house shopping. My family has gotten much better at keeping their thoughts blocked from me in the past 20 years or so; they just babble on and on about random things in their heads instead. So rather than hear of her extravagant day of house shopping, I only heard a recitation of Hamlet, quoted line by line.

Now I am waiting just as anxiously for a response as everyone else. This is a feeling I don't like to have, this feeling of being somewhat helpless. Needless to say, it crawls under my skin to not know what she is about to say.

"Carlisle and I have been trying to think of a place to relocate where we can adapt easily, have plenty of…resources, and where Bella can spend the next few years getting used to her new self." She pauses, and looks us each in the eye before continuing. "So, as of two hours ago, we are the owners of a cabana in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon."

Needless to say, the silence is broken by a jumble of responses. Everyone is surprised, but nobody seems to be opposed to the idea. In fact, once the idea settles in our minds, I hear everybody's thoughts become excited at this new prospect.

"So we're moving tomorrow morning then?" Jasper asks.

"Yes. The house is already furnished, so there will be no need to take our belongings there immediately; we can send for them at some point over the next few days." Carlisle replies calmly. "And I have already applied for a job at a nearby hospital; they are in need of more medical professionals, so that should not be a problem."

It is at this point that I turn to look at Bella. She is not breathing. I instinctually start to remind her to breathe, but then remember that she no longer needs to. For some reason I cannot explain, this bothers me. So instead I wrap an arm around her.

She looks up at me, and I see two emotions flicker across her face. One is fear; yes she has moved cross-country, but she has never moved to another continent, much less without her parents. The second is excitement. I decide to let the first one slide, but only for a moment.

"Well it's settled then." Alice says optimistically. She now looks into our future there. When I don't see anything terrible in her mind, I am relieved.

Bella speaks up. "What am I going to tell Charlie? I'm supposed to be moving to college in Alaska, but he'll want to see me before I go. I would like to think I wouldn't be tempted by him, but I don't trust myself to try it yet." she grimaces. "Plus, he would notice my physical changes too."

"I think the best thing to do will be to make plans to meet up with him," I say slowly. "then some big problem will come up, forcing us to rush out of town, like a death in our family or something." I pause at the irony of that comment. "We'll tell him we're going to 'stay with the family' for a couple of weeks, and then have to rush off to registration in Alaska."

"Alright, alright… I can see that working." Bella seems to be running through the situation in her head.

"It will." Alice assures her.

"So we will leave here at 8:00am tomorrow morning." Carlisle says. "We will take all of our own cars, so that we will have them down there. It will take a few days, but we cannot risk taking Bella to an airport."

Everyone agrees with this. So with that settled, we go our separate ways for the night.

I accompany Bella to the kitchen so that she can get blood. This reminds me that I have not hunted since she was turned. I remember that I was planning on taking her hunting soon anyway, so I decide to throw the idea out to her.

She is ecstatic. "Can we go right now?" She asks enthusiastically.

Just as before when I remembered she doesn't need to breathe anymore, I find her desire to hunt irksome… and yet again am unable to discern why. I suppose it is just so different from my old blood-a-phobic little human girl that it strikes me as odd. I realize this is ridiculous though, so I try to shake the thoughts from my mind. "Of course we can. But we're going to stay around here; we'll see if we can find some deer."

As we walk outside hand in hand, I am struck with another thought: I'm not sure that I want Bella seeing me hunt! She has seen me get defensive before, but she has never seen me in my full predatorial state… more beast than human. Also, it is going to be weird seeing her do so too…

She looks at me hesitantly, shyly almost, and asks, "So, how exactly do I…go about doing this?"

I chuckle. "It's instinctual; there is absolutely nothing to be taught. I promise, you'll know what to do."

I easily catch scent of a small herd of deer about a mile away. My guess would be that there are 3 or 4. So I lead the way. I can feel Bella's excitement and am in turn excited; the thrill of the hunt is a powerful one. When we come upon the 3 deer, so I whisper in her ear, "You go left, I'll go right. You just focus on one and I'll kill the other two. We'll split my 2nd kill."

She nods solemnly, but I see the glint of desire in her eyes. She unknowingly licks her lips. I drop her hand, and she is gone in a flash. I easily maneuver myself between the two other deer; it's quite an easy hunt for me, but I am content just the same. I take one of them down, leave it lying there, and take the second one down. I drink deeply, relishing in the taste of the fresh blood. I look up momentarily to check on Bella's progress. She is drinking deeply as well. We finish at about the same time and run to my first kill. As we kneel down across from each other, we catch each others' eye. I am delighted (and relieved) that neither of us finds this situation odd; in fact, it is a sort of bonding experience. When we have finished, we stand up slowly. I see the utter satisfaction on her face, and also see a trace of smugness; she's proud! And I'm proud for her. I smile, and she leans up to peck me on the cheek.

We take of at a jog towards the house. But now that we are refreshed, I decide to test her speed. So I start running as fast as I can. I look over my shoulder, expecting her to be several feet behind me, but I'm pleased to see she is still only a step or two behind me. So she IS the second fastest of us all! I actually begin to wonder if she is about to pass me, but she doesn't. Instead, I hear her laugh…and before I even realize what is happening, I am flying through the air; she tackled me!

If we were human, this would hurt because we hit a large pine tree. As it is, we just leave a huge indention in the treetrunk in a very human-like shape. When our laughter subsides, I say, "I knew you were going to do that."

"Oh yeah right Mr. Mind-reader," she retorts coyly, "you're powers don't work on me."

"Oh don't they?" I murmur suggestively. I kiss her, and we share a look that screams, "I know what you're thinking…"

Needless to say, we take off for the house. We would have taken straight off for our room, but something in the driveway makes us pause. We approach it slowly, defensively. The moment I realize what it is, she does as well.

"Is that…" Bella asks uncertainly. I nod.

It is her motorcycle. Jacob Black brought her motorcycle.

She approaches it slowly, as if she's afraid it will disappear if she moves too fast. She runs her hand over it gently, and I can see the pain in her face. When her hand reaches the seat, she picks something up: It's one of those corny boxes of Valentine's day heart candies with the messages on it. She picks it up, and then picks up something else I hadn't seen before: a t-shirt. Nothing special, or so it seems, but she holds the two items close to her body, and then smells the shirt. I then know that the shirt smells like him, and that the candy must be something sentimental as well.

I'm not really sure what to do at this moment, so I just stand silently to the side. It does hurt me to see her so worked up over another boy, it really does. And it makes me hate myself for putting her through it, and through everything else! I know that this was her decision, but I know I will always doubt whether it was truly what was best for her…

At this point she turns around to face me. "Can we…"

I truly know what she is going to ask now.

"Yes, of course we'll take the bike with us. But I'm not letting you drive it to Brazil." I say half-heartedly. "We'll put it in the back of Emmett's Jeep."

She just nods silently and starts to walk to the house, items in tow. I follow her, curious to see what she is doing.

She goes straight to the telephone. I expect that she is about to call Jacob, so I start to leave the room. But then I hear her speak. "Hey Charlie, it's Bella."

I don't need to hear Charlie's voice or thoughts to know his reaction to her phone call. Just from the expression on her face, I can tell he is excited that she called.

"So, I was thinking we should get together tomorrow for lunch, you know, catch up before I go off to college and all." She pauses. "Ok, sounds good, I'll meet you at the house at noon then. Love you!"

She hangs up after he says goodbye. I know she is having a lot thrown at her at once; first the long-distance move, then the Jacob situation, and now fooling Charlie. But she is actually handling it well for all intents and purposes. She runs to me and buries her head in my chest.

We go upstairs and just lay in bed for a long time, me stroking her hair, her snuggling close to me, and both of us lost in thought. Things progress to more happening over the next few hours, and we find that the sun rises much too soon.

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We all decide the only things we need to pack are a few changes of clothes, (of course, for Alice, this means a couple of suitcases,) and a cooler full of bottles of blood for Bella.

Bella had already decided to leave her truck with Charlie, so that means we only have my Volvo, Emmett's Jeep, Carlisle's Mercedes, and Rosalie's BMW.

We decide the best way to split up is by couples. This poses a problem though because neither Emmett nor Rosalie wants to let other people drive their car. But in the end, Emmett grudgingly hands his keys to Jasper for him and Alice to take.

We throw our suitcases in the cars, and put Bella's bike in the back of the Jeep. Once we're on the road, Bella decides to call her dad.

Her acting is very convincing; I am quite surprised. It seems like she rehearsed the story; and I realize that she probably did. She tells him that Carlisle's mother had a stroke, and that we had to fly immediately to London. I squeeze her hand for silent moral support.

She hangs up, and I know that he believed her story.

She turns to me now, and begins to speak. "We need to talk about Jacob."

I feel my jaw tighten; I wasn't expecting this! But I try to answer neutrally. "What about?"

She plays with her charm bracelet before answering. "Last night, when I was telling Jacob goodbye," her voice falters, "I saw your face. You were hurt, or upset, or worried, or a mix of all three. I just need to understand why. You know I love Jake but at the same time, you know I love you in an even bigger way. So how could you possibly be upset?"

"In just the exact same way that you can say you love me more and mean it, yet be heartbroken yourself about him! I believe you, but it doesn't take away from what I've put you through! It's been monstrous of me…"

She just stares at me as she processes what I've just said. "You're still having doubts about all of this?"

My silence answers her question. I focus intently on the road.

We both understand where the other one is coming from, completely. But it doesn't make it any easier to get over everything. She takes my hand in both of hers and laces our fingers together. "You know, the only monstrous thing you could do to me would have been to leave me," she quickly adds, "permanently, that is. Because even though it destroyed me when you left, you came back. You even told me that had my cliff-jumping not convinced you I was dead, you would have come back eventually anyway. You see, even that torture wasn't monstrous, because things worked out in the end. So by agreeing to marry me, to turn me, to keep me with you forever, you are the exact opposite of a monster in my eyes; you're an angel…." At this point she looks up from our intwined hands, forcing me to make eye contact. "And as for Jacob...I could easilylive with either of you, but there's only one of you I couldn't live without."

I don't think she realizes how much her words affect me. She just uncovered everything I've been worried about at once. I don't care what the others think, I pull off the road and park the car. I lean over and kiss Bella with every bit of love I can muster up. She is my world, and she needs to always know that.

We separate only when we hear a tap on my window. I growl as I lean over to roll it down. Alice's face pops into the car. "You know, if we don't get a move on, we're not going to get out of town soon enough and we'll have a bit of a problem with the wolves…."

As annoyed as I am at the interruption, I know she's right. So I crank the car and we all fall back into our caravan. We progress through the heart of Forks, and I notice Bella taking in all of the scenery outside. This is, after all, the last time she'll ever be here.

We pass the road to her house, and I hear her breathing stop. But she is holding up well, and I am very proud of her.

We are soon out of Forks, and are heading south…This is going to be a long trip.

We decide to listen to the radio for a while. The song "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie Titanic comes on the radio. We're both singing along, and acting it out dramatically to each other. Bella really has a beautiful voice! I've heard her sing in the past, and she was mediocre at best. But now, she has the voice of an angel! I make a mental note that once we get settled in Brazil, I'll play piano and teach her to read music, and that way she can sing along. It will be fantastic.

We drive all day and into the night. Thankfully, all of our cars have tinted windows, so when we get to sunny places, we don't attract attention. When the sun sets, we stop for gas, careful to keep Bella in the car.

I stay in the car with her, and even though the only human around is sitting inside the gas station, I feel her entire body tense up and see her eyes flash. Even though she's never tasted human blood, her body still craves it, and she has not been feeding according to our diet long enough to counter that. This, plus the fact that she's only been drinking animal blood, results in a curious shade of pink eyes for our newly turned vampires. It's somewhere in between the natural ruby red of vampires and the golden topaz of us 'vegetarians'. It's lovely, and I've never seen it suit anybody as well as it suits Bella.

Being around humans is very difficult for her, but stopping for gas is completely necessary. So I reach in the back seat of my car and feel for the lid of the cooler. I offer her a bottle of blood, which she eyes hungrily. She rips the cap off and drinks it, but when she finishes, she smacks her lip and sticks her tongue out. "Ugh… why does that taste so, bad?"

I laugh. "Because you've had fresh blood now, so of course old blood tastes worse. It's the same concept as with human food: if you cook something, it tastes better fresh than if you eat it days later, right?"

Our caravan of cars continues driving throughout the night and into the next day. By noon, we are in southern Arizona, less than 50 miles from the Mexican border.

My cell phone rings. It's Jasper, so I put it on speaker phone. "Yes?" I ask hesitantly. But by the time the word is out of my mouth, I've already read his mind. My eyes widen as he speaks.

"Hey, so I just picked up on an old familiar scent…"

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**A/N: Sorry it's taken so long! But hopefully I'll update again soon. **

**As always, R&R!**


	9. Chapter 9

DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, only the plot is my own.

R&R PLEASE! Will motivate me to continue sooner rather than later… 

Edward answered the phone. As soon as he heard Jasper say something about a "familiar scent," he snapped the phone shut. Even without my new, heightened senses, I would have been able to tell that Edward was upset. Who could it be? Could it be the Volturi? I sat in silence for a couple of moments, waiting for him to update me. When he did not, I spoke up.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat. "What was Jasper talking about?"

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Now I am sitting here as Edward explains what is going on. It isn't the Volturi, but I'm not sure that I like the sound of what I am hearing any better. Maria is in the area. THE Maria, the vampire that Jasper used to live with, the vampire who was building up an army… slaughtering both humans and vampires without a flinch. This can't be good.

"Does she know we're here?" I ask hesitantly.

"Yes; she smelled Jasper too. I can hear her thoughts, and she is hoping that Jasper will come meet her at an old designated place of theirs… otherwise, she will track him down. " He shakes his head as he picks up his cell phone to call Jasper.

"What exactly does she want?" I ask.

"At the moment,? Just to talk. She's heard of Jasper's new family and is interested in both our lifestyle and our powers. She…"

Jasper calls Edward back.

As they talk, I am left to my own devices. My own thoughts. Maria. I have been terrified of her ever since Jasper told me his life story and showed me his hundreds of scars. In my mind, she is evil. Demonic. Insane. I dread the thought of meeting her, but I suppose it's better than being tracked by a crazy vampire.

Again.

And, on the plus side, I'm no longer human. At that thought, I brighten up a bit. I'm no longer a temptation to kill. I'm also no longer weak. So nobody can take me away from Edward without a damn good fight now; aside from having to take me down, they would have to get through my entire family first! I am safe. We are safe. Nothing can go wrong.

I hope.

Edward hangs up and throws the phone into the cup holder my hand is laying across.

"Ow!" I say automatically, even though it doesn't actually hurt.

"Sorry."

I thought that my playful response would make him smile, but it doesn't. Instead, I notice his grip on the steering wheel tighten.

"What's going on?"

"Well, we're driving about ten more minutes. Then parking the cars. Then running a few miles to a cave where Maria's coven used to stay sometimes."

"Right. But that's not what I mean. I MEAN, why are you… nervous, I guess is the only word to describe it?"

Rather than dance around the subject, he was blunt with me for once. "I'm anxious about how Maria will respond to all of our powers. Especially yours. You see, she has recently begun building a new coven. It's small; only 4 vampires including herself. It's made up of her, her new partner Lerone, and two young vampires. These two young vampires were bitten only days apart. Then she pretty much just turned them loose to kill as many people as they wanted. But the odd thing is that both of these young ones have powers. I don't know if it was coincidence or not yet, but it's just such a rare occurrence that I can't help but think it was intentional. And if Maria has figured out how to select people that will have powers as vampires, this could be a million times worse than her previous army. I'm not even sure how the Volturi will be able to handle it!"

I realize my mouth has fallen open when I try to speak. "Oh my God, what do we do?"

"Really, there is nothing to do but go meet with her. Hopefully, she will be so focused on her own plans for the future that she won't be overly concerned with us. But there's always the chance..."

"Does she know what each of our powers are?"

"Aside from Jasper? No, not at the moment. But I'm betting on that changing."

"How?"

He exhales heavily. "Just, we'll see."

I take that as my cue to stop badgering him. And in his defense, he was very open with me. Brownie points for my husband; I'll have to keep a tally of those for when we get settled in our new home. Assuming we ever get there.

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We park the cars. We all slowly climb out; none of us are looking forward to this. I go over to Alice as soon as my feet touch the ground.

"What do you see happening?"

She shakes her head quickly and looks to the ground. "I don't see any trouble, but I do see her keeping an interest in us after we leave."

She, just as Edward, was no longer shielding every little bit of bad news from me. I guess it's because I'm not fragile little Bella anymore. I guess it's because I'm actually part of the family now. So as somber of a situation as this is, I feel my lips curve up slightly in a grin.

"Bella?" Edward calls from the back of the line of cars. I run over to him. He tosses me a bottle of blood before putting a few in a backpack. "Just in case you get thirsty." He says as he shrugs the backpack onto his back.

So thoughtful.

We all gather around Jasper, waiting on his lead.

"Just, a bit of warning before we get there. Maria is… charming. If she wants you to let your guard down, it's really not hard for her to come across as sweet and innocent. She may bypass that act; she may assume that I've already told you all about her. But just in case… I thought you all needed to know."

We all nod in understanding.

"Well, I guess let's go then."

Jasper takes off running. We all follow quickly.

We're all obviously fast, but Edward was right in thinking that I'm one of the fastest. It's probably because I'm so young, but I still have fun with it. Soon, I'm right on Jasper's heels. I would pass him if I knew where I was going. Edward is soon in stride with me. He takes my hand and kisses it mid-run. It's the kind of simple, romantic gesture that once would have had me blushing.

In only a few minutes, Jasper slows down. He stops at a rock wall. Rather, it just looks like a big boulder; it's not quite a 'mountain.' He walks to some shrubbery that's against the rock and moves it aside. There is a tunnel there that leads into the rock. The path goes down into the ground very steeply, but is tall enough that we can all walk it.

Jasper smacks his hands together and rubs them in anticipation before leading the way.

"Is she here?" I whisper to Edward.

"Not just her; all four of them."

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The pathway is dark, but we don't need it with our eyesight. After walking about a minute, the ground evens out. We go around a sharp curve and are in a cavern about the size of my old house. There are stalagmites and stalactites and flowing water; it's really very pretty. Across the cavern, we see them. The four stranger vampires meet us halfway across the room.

The woman in the lead must be Maria. She is short and has long chestnut colored hair. Her face is heart shaped, and dimples light up her face as she smiles in greeting.

"Jasper!" She coos as she hugs him. "I am so glad you decided to drop by. It's really been too long. Oh, I was upset with you when you left me, but let's let bygones be bygones, shall we?"

She turns and beams at all of us. If Jasper hadn't told me about her trickery, I might have been fooled.

"There are so many of you! And do you all truly not drink human blood? That's incredible. I can't say I have the willpower to give it up, but if it makes you happy Jasper, it mustn't be too horrible." She gives him a radiant smile.

The other three vampires stand behind her; they don't look anywhere near as sociable. One of the males walks up to her and slips an arm around her waist. This much be Lerone. His hair is jet black and his eyes are as well. He must be hungry. … I'm so glad I'm not human anymore!

"Oh, where have my manners gone? This is Lerone," she says as she looks up at him. He stands a full foot taller than her. "And this is Aaron and Michelle." She gestures them forward. They approach, holding hands.

So they're a couple too?

Aaron is stunning. His straight blonde hair hangs down to his neck, and his chiseled jaw is clenched tightly. His complexion is fair; he probably had piercing blue eyes as a human. But now, they are blood red.

Likewise, Michelle is beautiful. She is petite and has curly auburn hair that hangs down her back in perfect tresses. She has a delicate oval face and round eyes graced with full lashes.

Carlisle begins to speak. "I am Carlisle and I started our little coven. This is Esme, Edward, Bella, Emmet, Rosalie, Alice, and of course you already know Jasper."

"The pleasure's all mine." Maria says. "So tell me, Carlisle, does anyone else in your coven have a power besides Jasper? It's all really very interesting to me since I don't have one myself."

I notice Edward stiffen; he hears her thoughts and doesn't like where they are going. But I'm not exactly in the best position to ask, so I keep my mouth shut.

Jasper decides steps in. "No. It's only me, Maria. I guess I'm some kind of fluke, right?"

"He's lying." Aaron says nonchalantly. I'm surprised by the deep voice coming out of this angelic creature. "There are others."

"Ah… I guess I could have mentioned that my Aaron has the innate ability to tell when someone is telling the truth or lying. So now Jasper, would you like to change your answer?" Her voice is still sweet, but there is an edge of authority in it now. Clearly, she is getting impatient.

"Well…" Jasper fumbles for words.

Carlisle takes over again. "We do have others in fact, Maria. Alice is able to see the future and Edward can read minds. It's all remarkable and proves to be very useful."

"How marvelous!" Maria exclaims as she clasps her hands together. She looks very thoughtful; contemplative even. I don't like it at all, and apparently neither do my family members.

"So do none of the rest of you have any abilities?" Jerone raises an eyebrow in our direction. How does he know?

Dammit! I thought that Carlisle's clever choice of words would keep me out of sight and out of mind. But apparently not. And there's no used trying to lie about it since Aaron would know anyway.

Carlisle takes in a deep breath. "Yes actually. Bella is our youngest coven member and we've only recently discovered her power. She can… channel other vampires' powers and use them herself. But she has to physically touch the person she's channeling."

"Really?" Maria's eyes grow large and she licks her lips. "Would you mind showing me?"

"Umm…. I guess not."

I walk over to Edward and slowly take his hand. He gives me a "be careful" look and squeezes my hand before I start. "Alright Maria, think about whatever you'd like and I'll tell you."

I channel Edward's power and delve into Maria's mind. At first, she is thinking about a memory of her in a carnival. I instinctually know that the fact that she was resisting killing all the humans there means she has a purpose. Then she walks into a building labeled "freak show." As she walks through, she notices a young girl, who I immediately recognize as Michelle, sitting in a glass room. She looks so young! She sits there, doing nothing. A small boy approaches the glass and says "She's boring… do something girl!" Michelle looks up and glares at the boy but still does nothing. But Maria is interested, so she sticks around. Not long after the encounter with the little boy, a man walks up and turns on a switch. Suddenly, fire erupts all over Michelle's room!

But rather than being burned, Michelle stays sitting on her seat as the fire grows nearer and nearer to her. Just when she is about to be engulfed by the flames, they start to move. The fire bends around her, creating a pocket. Then, to prove that it isn't a trick of the room, Michelle stands up and paces all around the room; the pocket follows her.

I now bring myself out of Maria's mind. Why did she show me that? She is looking at me questioningly.

"So what did you see?"

"Well… I saw Michelle in a carnival. But, I don't understand. What was she doing with the fire? And was that as a human?"

"I'm impressed, Bella." Maria says smoothly. "And yes, Michelle was still a human at that point. Even then, she could control fire…. But only if it already existed. Now, she can generate it herself as well as control it."

To prove Maria's point, Michelle lifts her hand and fire erupts from her fingertips. She blows on them, and the balls of fire float through the air in our direction. Then she naps her fingers, and they go out. An involuntary shiver runs through my body.

"Well, now that we all know all about the others' powers, is there anything else you'd like to chat about Maria?" Jasper asks testily. Clearly, he is anxious to leave. Maybe the feelings he is picking up from his old "friend" are less than pleasant.

"If you need to leave then please, don't hesitate. I wouldn't want to keep you from your plans. But darling, we'll be in touch!" She smiles and extends a hand to Jasper. But then her expression changes, just for a fleeting second. She glares at Jasper in a knowing way; she is reminding him of how she once ruled him and how he did everything she wanted. But in seconds, it's gone. She smiles again. She then waves in our direction, and we return the waves and exchange goodbyes. The rest of her coven stand in the background, not being in the least bit hospitable.

We hurry out of the cave. Hurry back to the cars. And only then do I get to speak with Edward.

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Sorry it's taken so long! Hopefully can continue soon. Also, I took liberties with Maria…. Just go with it ok? READ AND REVIEW!


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